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ARGUMENT 



OF THE PLAY 



FEDORA 



DRAMA IN FOUR ACTS. 



THE MASTER-PIECE 

OF 

VICTORIEN SARDOU 



AS PRESENTED BY MADAME 

SARAH BERNHARDT 

AND 

HER POWERFUL COMPANY. 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 18S7, by F. Rullman, in the Offict 
of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 



Published by F\ RULLMAN, at 

THE THEATRE TICKET OFFICE, No. in BROADWAY, 

NEW YORK. 



KATHERINE I. ^ISHER 
JUNE 24 1940 



Opera Libretti 



Head-quarters for 

A.T THE POPULA-R 

THEATRE TICKET OFFICE 

TVIr. F. BULLMAN, 111 Broadway, New York, 
THE ONLY AUTHORIZED 



;h Operas that have been rendered 

and are now performing at the 



ACADEMY OF MUSIC, THE METROPOLITAN OPERA HOUSE, 

— AND ALL THE — 

Principal Opera Houses ofJEurope and the United States. 

,C E l EBR ated OaAToaios, in English, with a Preface and Biography of Handel, Haydn, Mozart, and 



it being the favorite 



THE LIBRETTI, AS FOLLOWS, AltE SELECTED FROJI THE IMMEXSE STOCK: 

English and Italian. English and Italian. 



Aida, 

Aroldo, 

Belisario, 

Betly, 

Carnavale di Venezia (Carnival of Veni( 

(Vijer.moln , Cinderella), 

Crispino e la Conmre (The Cobbler a 

the Fairy), 
DerFreischutz, 

Dinurah (A Pilgrimage at Ploermel), 
Don Bucefalo, 
Don Carlos, 

Don liiuvanni (Don Juan), 
iDon Pasquale, 
Don Sebastian, 

frnani, 
idelio, 
Fra Diavolo, 
■Gemma di Vergy, 
'Giuditta (Judith). 
\ Giuglielmo Tell (William Tell), 
GliUgonotti (The Huguenots), 
(ili I'lliini Giurni de Pompeii (Last D; 

of Pompeii), 
Hamlet, 

I Due Foscari (The Two Foscari), 

II lUrl.i.-ro ill Seviglia (The Barber 

Seville), .„,,., 

11 Flauto Magico (Magic Flute), 
11 Gurany, 

11 Profeta (The Prophet), 
11 Tancredi (Tancred), 
IlTrovatore ( Hie Tn.v.itore), 
II Vascello Fantasma (The Flying Dm 

man), 
I Puritani (Puritans), 
Joseph in Egypt, 

L'Ebrea (La Juive)— (The Jewess), 
L'F.lisir d'Amore (Elixir of Love), 
L'Ombra. 

LaFavorita (The Favorite.. 



Manon, 

Marcn Viscontl, 
Maria di Rohan, 
Maritana, 

Masanfello (The Dumb Girl of Portici), 

Medea, 

Mefestofele, 

Mignon, 

Mirella, . _ 

Mose in Egiito (Moses in Egypt), 

Nabuco (Nabuchodonosor), 

Nebucudiezza, 

Norma, 

Oberon, 

Orfeo (Orpheus), 

Otello (Othello), 

Pipele, 

Poliuto (The Martyrs), 

pnuoossi Sposi, 

Rigoletto, 

Robe-to Devereux (Robert Devereux , 

Roberto il Diavolo i Robert the Devil i, 

Romeo e Giulietta (Romeo and Juliet), 

Ruy Bias, 

Sail'.. (Sapho), 

Seiuiramide, _ . „ , 

Sicilian Vespers ( Vespn Sieihani), 
Talisman, 
■ Un Balloli 
Zampa. 

English and German. 



i Maschera (Masked Ball), 



Aida, 
Carmen, 

Chilil of the Regiment. 
Czar and Zimmerma 
penter). 



Golden Cross. 
Gotterdammerung, 

Jofephhi' Egypten (Joseph In Egypt). | 

Lohengrin, 

Lucia von Lammermoor, 

Lucre/.ia Borgia, 

Maurer'undSchlosser (Mason and I-oc*. 

Jleistersiuger, 



Granada (A Night la 



Queen of Sheba, 

Sienzi. 

1'ic.en der Teufel (Robert the Devil* 

Siegfried, 

Stradella, 

Tanuh..'.iser (Tannhauser\ 

Tristan and Isolda. 

Undine, 

William Tell ' , 

Zaubei -note (.Magic Flute). 

Spanish and English. 

Favorite, Orpheus. 

Fri Diavolo, Traviata, 

La Gatina, Trovatore, 



Martha. 



(Czar and Car- 
Hollander (The Flying 



Dutchman), 
Per Freischlitz i Der Freischutz), 
li, t M-iskeubnll i Masked Pall), 
Der Postilion von Lonjumcau (Postll 

of Lonjumeau), 



Boccacio, 
Colleen Bawn, 
Fatlnltza, 
Maritana, 

Paul and Virginia. 
Rose of Castil. 



English. 

Plecpv Hollow. 
Summer Night* 



La ^e^g^e i n , ,r t ° CrheDaUShter Elr«^und d ieJUdin(Tem P laran d «°«™ 

r ., ip....,., u,.i ; ...k; ,... iT!i' Force of Des- Jewess). m x /~v,.^-t-^,-,.i,",o in 



La For/.a del Destino (The Force of Des- 

La Gazzi Ladra(Mai(l and Magpie), 

l.a Gcconda. 

LaServa Padroua (The Servant 

l.aSoimaiiiliula . IhcSoiuiiaiiihulei. 

La .siella del Norte (Star of the North), 

La Traviata. „, , 

J, a Zinc;,. i.. (The Polieuiudi (lirli. 

l.c Nun. <li Figaro (The Marriage of 
Figaro), 

Les Noces de Jeannette (Jeannette's 

Wedding., 
jLinda d! Chamounix, 
.Lohengrin, 

Lombard i, _ , _ 

Luela di Lammermoor (Lucy of Lara- 
mormoor), 

Lucre/.la Borgia, 

l.tiiMi Miller t Louisa Miller), 

Macbeth, 

C2T- WHOLESALE AND 



Oratorios in English. 



Der Troubadour (The Tn.vatoro., 

Wililschutz (The Poacher), 
_.. Afrikanerin, 
tress), Die Hugeno tten (The Huguenots), 

Die Jiidin (The Jewess), _.,.,„„ Sam s n! with Life of Handel, 
Die Lustigen Welber von V. indsor (Merry ^,, ns ' 



Creation, with I. if.' of Haydn. 
Elijah, with Life of Mendelsso 

Me'-siah, 



Die Lustigen 

Wives of Wmdsorl. 
DleStummevon Portici (Tho Dumb Girl 

of Portlctk 

Die Walkttre, . . x 

Die weisse Dame (W bite Lady). 

Dinorah, 

Don Juan, 

Euryanthe, 

Faust, 

Fidello, .. . 

Figaro's Hoc'nzolt oThc Marnag 

Figaro), 
Fra Diavolo, 
Giconda, 



Stal.al Mater. 



French and English Play*. 



Adr 



. Lecouveur 



I'aunlle. 
Dlvorcons, 

Frou Frou, 
of llernani, 
La Cosaque. 
La Femme A Papa, 
La Passant, 



RETAIL AT Mr„ FRED. RULLMAN'S. I I I Broadway, New Vol* 



Mr. VICTORIEN SARDOU 



Ail original writer is not he who imitates no one, but he who no one can 
imitate. Shakespeare called the plots of his best pieces from legends be- 
queathed to the World by his predecessors, and Moliere admitted with the 
most artless good faith, " qu'il a pris son bien ok il Va trouve." Both, however, , 
are inimitable ; out of the raw metal which they fused they contrived to issue 
coin bearing their individual stamp. Of a hundred writers treating a given 
subject, only one would be capable of imprinting it with the seal of his peiv 
sonality. 

Personality ; all the immense worth of Victorien Sardou is defined by that 
one word. Philosophy and charm, science and art, all take through him, in 
him, and by him an actual and a clearly engraved physiognomy, which it is 
impossible not to recognize, and which would be foolish and unjust to try to 
ignore. In the course of his active and triumphant career, Sardou has several 
times had occasion to give his valuable advice upon certain works ; to touch 
up a scene, or to slip in a judicious word, to heighten a situation here, or to 
develope a character there. However anonymous these retouches might be, 
though, it was impossible not to distinguish them at first glance, any one 
trait being sufficient to reveal the master-hand. 

Yictoxien Sardou's father, who was a distinguished spirit, great scholar, 
and thorough lexicographer, to whom also we owe a very precious edition , of . 
Rabelais, sent the boy, to grow at his freedom in Drienon l'Archeveque, one 
of the prettiest villages imaginable. Brought back to Paris, the young man 
entered first the Ecole de Commerce de Charonne and afterwards the College 
Henry IV. Who knows if, from these two different sources of education, there 
do not arise in Sardou's work its happy admixture of the open frankness of 
practical life and the delicacy of classic art. Ardent, curious to see and to ; 
know, he commenced the study of medicine, but even then the dramatic instinct 
had awakened in him, and already having taken up his pen, he endeavored to , 
give scenic form to his thoughts, — a form so difficult to seize, since it is the 
result of action told in dialogue. 

Les amis imaginairea, which perhaps gave birth to Nos Intimes and La Heine 
Vepa, are the first conceptions of Sardou, who soon, however, taking bolder 
flight, attacked Bernard Palissy in verse, some published fragments of which 
bespeak the dramatic author as well as the mere writer. 

A prey to the difficulties of existence ) poor and wishing to devote himself 
entirely to his art, Sardou, pale, thin and delicate, had to yield himself up to 



4 VICTOEIEN SAEDOTT. 

ceaseless "work in order to live ; giving lessons and collaborating with com- 
pilers of dictionnaries and encyclopedias of all kinds, gaining his bread at the 
point of his pen, contributing, among other -works, some excellent articles to 
the " NouveUe Biographic General? " by Doctor Hoefer, and constantly adding 
to the stores of his learning, and making provisions of arms for the literary 
combat. Alas ! the first literary battle of this courageous soldier was to end 
in disorder. The conqueror began with defeat. La Taverne des Etudiants, a 
comedy in three acts of verse, was, in spite of its amusing qualities, its origin- 
ality and its many fine Hues, a non-success, a failure, a fiasco (we may as well 
say the word) of the most pronounced description; piteous baptism of fire, 
■which retarded for several years the blossoming of the ardent hopes of the 
indomitable wrestler. In this plight poor Sardou, shattered but still in a fever 
of ambitious expectancy, was forced to stand aside and see himself passed by 
for the successes of that year, 1854, which remained a never to be forgotten 
year for him. 

It was then that Sardou, having entered into partnership with Paul FevaL 
a novelist of the gloomy order, who, in spite of many efforts had, up to that 
period, obtained no success in the theatre — suddenly signed Le Bossu, one of 
the sword and cloak school of drama, and certainly one of the most charming 
and the best contrived since the days of Dumas pere. 

Sardou, when young, had the profile of Bonaparte, as he has now that of 
Erasmus — having made allowances for the period, he threw into the fire all 
the used up tricks, worn out phrases, old fashioned platitudes, and in each 
new work he extended his method. It was then they had Sardou in his early 
style ; airy, amusing, ironical, as in the Pattes de mouche, the Fenunes fortes, 
Nos Intimes and La FamiUe Benoilou, in the Vieuse Gargons and Maison Neuve, 
exquisite productions, wherein one feels that the author has been the first to 
take delight in them. Later on he wrote Seraphine and Fernando, both of 
which are pieces of the first order of merit. 

One day, one of the brightest which has shed lustre upon Sardou's glory, 
he turned his attention to the drama of Patrie, and again to La Haine, a 
tragedy-act at once superior, elevated and, in every way, wonderful. In both 
these powerful dramas Sardou has stirred up the noblest passions and the 
purest sentiments. They equal the efforts of the oldest matters as much by 
their lofty aims as by their style and conception. Then came the war, — that 
terrible war of 1870. The revolution, which followed in its train, furnished 
Sardou with one of his most thrilling inspirations, Rabagas, a magnificent 
picture and a cruel satire ; a political comedy, wherein the state of the minds, 
manners, hopes and follies at the moment are faithfully set forth. 

Patrie, La Haine, Rabagas, Theodora and Fedora are the culminating 
points of Sardou's prodigious talent. 

Do you wish to laugh ? There is VEcureml, an indescribable fantaisie ; 
there is Le Magot, a topsy-turvy folie, irresistibly contagious ; there is Les 
Gens Nerveux ; there is Les Ganuches ; and there is Divorcons, a bouffoneric, 
containing one of the most bitterly philosophical comedies of the day. 

If you prefer that sweet emotion where one's tears are brightened by a 
tendc- smile, we have Andrea; we have Fereol, we have Bora, we have Odette, 



VICTOEIEN SARDOU. 5 

and we have Georgette, where the author makes us weep even while he is sup- 
porting a theory, one of the most arduous and exciting theories of the nine- 
teenth century, namely, the redemption of a Magdalen by the means of 
maternity. 

If you would rather have a subject picture, choose Don Quichotte ; choose 
V Onch Sam ; choose Les Femmes fortes , choose Les Papillons ; Nos Intimes, 
or Les Merveilleuses, a priceless pearl set in the purest gold. If you incline 
towards the terrible, to the quick drawn emotion of modern passions, try 
Les Diables Noirs, try Fernande, or Maison Neuve, or Fedora ; without reckon- 
ing those which I can only say are not less interesting, such as La Perk, Noire, 
Les Bourgeois de Pantarey and Daniel Rochat. 

On the 8th of February, 1877 (and a just reward it was for his honest labor 
to sustain and perpetuate the artistic glory of France), Victorien Sardou was 
elected a member of the Academie Franchise, one of the immortal forty ! 

When young, Sardou dissected the heart of man anatomically. Later on, 
towards 1861, we find him seeking the soul through spiritualism, and that is 
not one of the least curious means his intellect employed in its quest of the 
new and the unknown. 

In those days there existed a Society of Spiritualists, presided over by a 
certain Bivail, ex-manager of one of the Boulevard theatres, christened Allan- 
Kardoc "by a spirit," that of a suicide probably, for in these seances they chiefly 
invoked those who had of their own will passed unbidden into eternity, such 
as Gerard de Nerval, for instance. 

Sardou held a distinguished position amongst these adepts, and published 
in his capacity of Medium a " Voyage fait dins la planete de Jupiter." 

Whoever knows Sardou, whoever has listened to this inexhaustible and 
learned conversationalist, and — this above all — whoever has assisted at one of 
his readings, where, Proteus-like, he is the living incarnation of every one of 
his characters, from an emperor down to the rough laborer, from an innocent 
girl down to the courtesan; whoever has seen him under fire, leading the 
battle with magnificent strategy to gain it for his soldiers, or has seen him on 
the stage, giving, unaided, the living, breathing examples of the passions he 
has unchained, being, by turn, ironical or tearful, cruel or supplicating, tender 
or implacable — whoever has seen this is seized with the idea that Sardou's 
work is made after his own image, the dominant tone of which is action. We 
adduce " Theodora" and " Fedora" in support of our statement. Sardou alone, in 
all the world, has been able to plant us in the tangible, real, living Bizantium 
of the ancient empire. Shakespeare, to whom we must always look, when he 
wished to convey the idea of the Boman people, began his Julius Casar with a 
trivial conversation amongst carpenters and cobblers, very truthfully supposing 
that in all ages humanity has always been identical with itself. Keeping this 
in view, Sardou in his " Theodora" has breathed life into the nostrils of beings 
of flesh and blood, and has not given us mere abstractions of purely conven- 
tional tragedy. And what success, what triumph ! 

Sardou sees, looks for and finds everywhere the type of woman he needs. 
Until he eclipses himself " Theodora" and " Fedora" must remain the most 
deeply studied and accurately defined of his creations. 



FEDORA. 



Acte Premier. 



Nous nous trouvons, au premier acte, a, Saint-Petersbourg, dans le cabinet de 
travail du Capitaine Vladimir Yariskine, fils du nouveau prefet de police de Saint- 
Petersbourg. 

Nous voyons, au lever du rideau, le valet du cbambre du Capitaine Vladimir, un 
francais nomme Desire, tres devoue a son inaitre ; il est en conference avec un bijou- 
tier de Saint-Petersbourg, Maitre Echileff. Celui-ci a entendu parler d'un futur 
mariage entre le Capitaine Vladimir et une grand dame dont on ne dit pas encore le 
nom dans les cercles de la haute societe russe; aussi, le bijoutier est-il a, pour attendre 
le maitre de la maison et lui offrir sss services pour les cadeaus precieux a mettre dans 
la corbeille de mariage. Mais Vladimir ne rentre pas, et les heures s'ecoulent pen- 
dant que Desire et Echileff parlent familierenient de la fiancee inconnue, de son 
enorme fortune et de celle, non moins grande, de Vladimii*. La conversation s'etend 
sur tout ce qui se j>asse en Eussie, sur la situation politique, les dangereux exploits 
des nihihstes et les craintes qu'inspirent au peuple et aux negociants les menaces de 
ces conspirateurs qui ne reculent devantrien et qui ont deja, tout recemment, fait sauter 
le Czar Alexandre II. 

Vladimir est, d'apres l'avis general, plus menace que quiconque j>uisqu'il est le 
fils du Prefet de Police; mais il est jeune, fort, riche et beau, et de taille a se defendre. 

Le bijoutier Echileff, qui craint la concurrence des bijoutiers juifs au sujet des 
fournitures a faire a Vladimir a l'occasion de son magnifique mariage, essaie de mettre 
le valet de chambre Desire dans ses interets, en lui offrant des cadeaux personnels. 

Cependant, l'heure continue a marcher, et Desire commence a etre inquiet de 
l'absence de son maitre, qui avait coutume depuis quelque temps de rentrer de meil- 
leure heure, quand on annonce la Princesse. 

La Princesse c'est Fedora, Princesse Eomazoff, veuve, fiancee de Vladimir. Pour- 
quoi vient-elle chez lui a pareille heure ? Desire fait disparaitre le bijoutier et intro- 
duit Fedora, qui entre avec Dimitri, le groom du capitaine. 

— Oil est Vladimir ? s'ecrie-t-elle. — Car elle aussi est iuquiete, tres iuquiete. 
Les bruits politiques sont loin d'etre rassurants; elle attendait son fiance dans sa loge, 
au theatre, et, ne l'ayant pas vu de toute la soiree, elle n'a pu y tenir et est accourue 
pour voir s'il n'avait pas ete victime d'un accident. 

Ni Desire ni Dimitri ne peuvent la renseigner. Le jeune capitaine est sorti, a 
son heure habituelle, avec quelques amis pour aller diner au restaurant Borrel. Do 
la, il devait aller au Theatre Michel; il a du oublier qu'il avait donne rendez-vous an 
bijoutier, et il est probable qu'il sera alle a son cercle. Fedora, qui se meurt 
d'angoisse et d 'impatience, envoie au cercle; mais on n'y a pas vu le capitaine. . . . 

En attendant, le temps sccoule et Ton ne sait plus que penser. Fedora, fremis- 
sante, ne tarit pas en questions a Desire, s'inforine des moindres details du depart de 
Yladiinir, envoie chez ses amis, partout; mais personne n'a de nouvelles. 

Enfiu, on se met a esperer qu'il est alle, par ordre, chez son pure, le prefet de 
police, qui est en ce moment hors de Saint-Petersbourg, ft Gatcluna, aupres de 
l'Empereur. 

Soudain, un grand bruit retontit, Fedora pousso un cri de joie : c'est la voiture 



FEDORA. 



Act First. 



The curtain rises on the study of Captain Vladimir Jariskine, son of the new 
Prefect of Police at St. Petersburg. The Captains valet, a Frenchman named Desire, 
devoted to his master, is in conference with a Jeweller of St. Petersburg, Eschileff by 
name, who, having heard of a future marriage between Captain Vladimir and a lady of 
the highest social position in Russia, whose name is not yet known, has come to wait 
for the master of the house in order to offer his services for the manufacture of the 
costly bridal gifts. But Vladimir does not come in. The time goes by whilst Desire 
and Eschileff chat familiarly about the unknown fiancee and of her enormous fortune 
which ecpials that of Vladimir. The conversation rolls on everything Russian, the 
political situation, the dangerous exploits of the nihilists, the fear which the menaces 
of these conspirators inspire in the people and among businessmen, and of the late 
successful attempt to blow up the Czar, Alexander II. , 

Vladimir is, according to general opinion, more in danger than any one else, 
since he is the son of the Prefect of Police, but he is young, strong, rich and hand- 
some and perfectly able to take care of himself. 

The Jeweller Eschileff, who fears the competition of the Jews in the furnishing of 
the marriage presents for Vladimir on the occassion of his sumptuous marriage, tries 
to win the valet Desire over to his side by offering him presents. 

Time flies, and Desire commences to be anxious about his masters' continued 
absence, especially as the latter has taken the habit of late of coming home early when 
the Princess is announced. 

The Princess is Fedora, Princess Romagoff, a widow and betrothed to Vladimir. 
But why does she come to see him at such an hour ? 

Desire pushes the jeweller out and shows in Fedora, who enters followed by 
Dimitri, the captain's groom. 

" Where is Vladimir ? " she cries, — for she too, is anxious, very anxious. The 
flying political rumors are far from being reassuring. She had been waiting for him 
all the evening in her box at the opera. He had not come and her anxiety becoming 
unbearable, she has hastened to his rooms to see whether he has not become the 
rictirn of some accident. 

Neither Desire nor Dimitri are able to reassure her. The young captain had gone 
out at his usual hour with some of his friends to dine at Boirel's. Thence he was to go 
to the opera. He had probably forgotten that he had made an appointment with the 
jeweller and possibly had gone to his club. Fedora who his trembling with fear and 
anxiety sends immediately to the club. The captain has not been there — 

An hour passes and an undefined fear grows in every one's heart. Fedora is half 
mad with anxiety and plies Desire with questions as to the exact time the captain went 
out, where he was going and what he said ; she sends to all his friends everywhere, 
but no one has seen Vladimir. Lastly they all commence to hope that he has gone 
by order of his father, the Prefect of Police, to meet the latter at Gatchina at the 
Emperor's residence. 

Suddenly a noise is heard. Fedora utters a cry of joy. It is Vladimir's carnage. 
The terrible presentiments of the evening vanish ! He is coming home ! He is here ! 



8 FEDORA. 

de Vladimir que rentre ! . . . Les pressentiments teiTibles qu'elle avait depuis le com- 
mencement de la soiree s'evanouissent ; il rentre enfin, elle va le voir ! 

Helas ! Ce n'est pas Vladimir qu'elle voit apparaitre. C'est un officier de police 
qui fait son entree, suivi de deux de ses agents et d'un gentleman, M. de Siriex, 
secretaire de l'ambassade de France. 

lis annoncent qu'ils ramenent Vladimir tres dangereusement blesse et qu'ils ont 
mande des medecins en toute hate, car le cas est grave. Us slnforment de la person- 
nalite de Fedora et prennent des precautions avant de lui apprendre la fatale verite ; 
on a transports le blesse dans sa chambre, qui est au fond de la scene, mais on n'en 
laisse approcher personnc. 

Les medecins arrivent ; au milieu des anxietes de Fedora et sous l'o3il de l'officier 
de police, ils examinent la blessure, reconnaissent qu'elle provient d'une balle de 
revolver et declarent la situation extremement grave. Us interdisent a tout le monde 
1'acces de la chambre, envoient querir leurs trousses et des remedes et s'enferment 
avec le blesse. 

Restee seule avec les homines de police et les deux serviteurs Desire et Dimitri, 
Fedora fait commencer l'enquete sur le crime. 

M. de Siriex et le cocher de Vladimir sont d'accord sur leurs declarations, mais 
ils ne savent pas grand' chose qui puisse eclairer les magistrats. Vladimir s'est fait 
conduire dans un quartier tloigne et est descendu dans une maison isolee au-milieu 
de vasies jardins abandonnes, ou se trouvait etabli un tir. On ignore a qui appartient 
la maison ; elle a ete. louee j>ar une femme inconnue, assez agee. A peine Vladimir 
est-il entre seul dans cette maison, que deux coups de feu se sont fait entendre ; deux 
coups tenement rapproches que le cocher a meme cru, tout d'abord, qu'il n'y en avait 
eu qu'un. Au meme instant, un homme, qu'on n'a pas reconnu, est sorti de la 
maison et a pu disparaitre rapidement en dejouant toutes les poursuites. 

Evidemment, cela ne suffit pas pour faire avancer l'enquete ; les preuves manquent, 
et on en est reduit a des conjectures. Tout ce qui semble etre absolument clair a tout 
le monde, c'est que le crime a ete commis par les nihilistes, par vengeance politique. 

Mais voila que, tout a coup, un incident nouveau vient jeter un peu de lumiere 
sur tout ce mystere. Un domestique se rappelle qu'une femme agee est venue ajsporter 
une lettre a Vladimir, avant l'heure du diner, et positivement Vladimir a mis cette 
lettre dans le tiroir de sa table a ecrire. Surement, cette lettre donnait un rendez- 
vous au capitaine, et ce rendez-vous etait celui du guet a pens ou on l'attendait et ou 
il a succombe. 

Mais c'est en vain qu'on fouille dans le tiroir, la lettre n'y est plus. 

Comment a-t-elle disparu '? Qui l'a voliie ? Certainement le capitaine ne l'a pas 
reprise : il s'est leve et est sorti en voiture aussitot apres l'avoir jetee dans le tiroir. 

— Toute cette enquete, parfois interrornpue paries allees et venues des medecins 
et de ceux qui les servent, est aussi saisissante que terrible par le naturel umouvant 
de la mise en scene. — Le capitaine meurt sans pouvoir prononcer une parole, au 
milieu des pleurs dechirants et du desesjsoir profond de sa fiancee, des regrets de ses 
domestiques et de la profonde emotion de tous les assistants, M. de Siriex et les 
homines de jsolice. 

On croirnit alors qu'il ny a plus qu'a en rester 1;\ et a attendre que la justice suive 
son cours, en recherchant l'homme qu'on a vu s'enfuir de la petite maison du tir au 
pistolet et la vieille femme qui a loue cette maison et qui est probablement la meme 
qui a apporte une lettre au capitaine 

Mais alors, sous de pressantes interrogations du chef de police, un domestique se 
souvient tout a. coup el'un evenement que, dans son trouble, il avait completement 



FEDOBA. 9 

Alas ] it is not Vladimir she sees enter. It is a police officer -who appears 

followed by two of his subordinates and by a gentleman, M. de Siriex, secretary of the 
French legation. They announce that they are bringing "Vladimir home dangerously 
wounded, and that they have sent in all haste for the fiist physicians in the city, as the 
case is serious. They inquire as to who Fedora is, and take great precautions in 
breaking the terrible news to her. They have transported the wounded man to his 
room which is at centre of stage back, but no one is allowed to approach. 

The doctors arrive, in the midst of great excitement on Fedora's part, and under 
the supervision of the officer the wound is examined and is recognized as being the 
result of a pistol shot. The situation is declared serious. The doctors shut everybody 
out of the room, send for their instruments and medicine and lock themselves in with 
the patient 

Left alone with the policemen, Desire and Dimitri, Fedora forces them to begin 
an inquiry into the crime. 

M. de Siriex and Vladimir's coachman agree in declaring that they know little 
to enlighten justice. Vladimir had ordered himself driven to a far off quarter and 
had alighted before the door of a house surrounded by vast but deserted gardens 
wherein was situated a shooting-gallery. They neither of them know to whom the 
house belongs. It is let by an unknown woman past middle age. Hardly had 
Vladimir gone into this house, alone, when two shots were heard, so near together 
that the coachman first thought that there was but one. At the same instant a man 
who was not recognized left the house hurriedly and had been able to baffle all 
pursuit. 

Evidently, this is not enough to help along the search. Proof is wanting and 
they are reduced to conjectures. "What seems, however, perfectly clear to every one 
is, that the crime was committed by the nihilists for political revenge. 

But suddenly an incident happens which throws some light on all this mystery. 
One of the servants remembers that a woman past middle age came to bring a letter 
for Vladimir before dinner and that Vladimir positively put this letter in the drawer 
of his study-table. This letter must certainly have appointed a meeting-place and 
this rendez-vous proved to be the ambush where he met his death. 

In vain they search the drawer. The letter is not there. 

How has it disappeared? "Who has stolen it? Certainly the captain did not take 
it out of the drawer again. He rose from his chair, went out and was driven away in 
his carriage immediately after having thrown it into the drawer. 

All this inquiry, occasionally interrupted by the coming and going of the doctors 
and their assistants, is as striking as it is terrible on account of the natural emotion 
of all concern. 

The captain dies without being able to speak a word in the midst of sobs, and the 
heart-rending despair of his fiancee, the regret of his servants and the profound 
emotion of all present including M. de Siriex and the police. 

It was thought that the affair would have to stop here, to allow justice'to follow 
its course by hunting out the man who escaped through the shooting-gallery and the 
woman who had hired the house and who was probably the person who had brought 
the letter to the captain. 

But under the close questioning of the chief of police a servant suddenly remem- 
bers an event which, in his excitement, he had completely forgotten. He tells how, 
after the departure of his master, a young man called and asked for Vladimir; that he 
went into the study and, saying that he was one of Vladimir's friends, was about to 
leave him. a note, that he approached the writing table, but suddenly changed his 



10 FEDORA. 

oubUe. II raconte que, apres le depart de son rnaitre, un jeune bomme s'est presente 
pour lui parler; qu'il est entre dans eo cabinet de travail et que, affirmant etre 1'ami 
de Wladimir, il a desire lui laisser un mot decrit ; q'uil s'est approche de la table a 
ecrire, mais qu'il s'est aussitut ravise en disant: "Bon! c'est inutile ; je lui dirai moi- 
nieme de vive voix ce qui m'amenait." Et il est alors reparti. — Sureinent, cet in- 
connu est le voleur do la lettre de la vieille femme. 

Mais quel est cet inconnu? — Le jeune domestique, pressi de questions, se rap- 
pelle l'avoir deja, vu une fois, mais il ne se souvient pas de son nom. 

Tout le monde se met alors a laider dans ses souvenirs, et, chacun lui disant les 
divers noms des homines qui ont pu, depuis quelque temps, se presenter a 1'liotel de 
Wladimir, il finit par declarer que ce visiteur de la nuit s'appelle Loris Ipanoff. 

Loris Ipanoff! — Mais c'est un jeune seigneur extremement riche, dont per. 
sonne n'a jamais rien dit. II est vrai que le vol n'a pas ete le mobile de l'assassinat, 
mais il peut y avoir mille autres raisons. II ne connait pas la Princesse Fedora, la 
fiancee de Vladimir, ce n'est done pas non plus une vengeance d'ainoureux ; mais 
enfin, il n'y a pas de doutes a avoir. C'est lui qui a vole la lettre, c'est lui qui a tue 
l'infortune capitaine. 

Loris Ipanoff n'etait pas 1'ami de Vladimir ; ils ne vivaient pas dans le meme 
monde, ils ne frequentaient paa la meme societe. Vladimir etait un viveur, un gentil- 
liomme de bruit et de tapage, tandisque Loris Ipanoff passe pour etre un jeuno 
seigneur sage, serieux et travailleur ; mais qu'importe ? C'est niCnie une raison, une 
preuve de plus. Loris Ipanoff est un nihiliste; il a servi d'instmment a ces conspira- 
teurs qui essaient sans cesse de souiever la Russie. II est tres riche, mais les nihilistes 
comptent dans leurs rangs de grands noms et de grandes fortunes. D'apres une 
- phrase celebre, citee d'ailleurs dans la premiere scene de cet acte entre Desire et. 
Eehileff : " -Q y a des nihilistes meme a la table du Czar." 

On se souvient aussi, a ce moment, d'une lettre adressee il y a buit jours a Ma- 
dimir, dont le pere venait d'etre nomme prefet de pobce et se signalait cltja par des 
mesures de rigueur. Cette lettre, commc le dit Desire, etait ainsi concue : " Si votre 
pere continue a nous persecuter de la sorte, il prepare pour vous une mort violente." 

Plus de doute ! Le crime est l'eauvre des nihilistes ; Loris Ipanoff est nihiliste, 
et c'est lui qui est l'assassin du capitaine. 

Fedora, dont la mort de son fiance, loin d'abattre son courage, a surexeite au plus 
haut point le descspoir amoareux et le desir acharne de vengeance, bondit de colere 
et de joie en pensant que le crime ne va pas rester impuni ; elle fait passer dans 
Fame de tous ceux qui l'entourent sa fievre et son indignation, et c'est a qui, sous son 
inspiration, ira le premier arreter le criminel. 

Loris Ipanoff babite jwecisement en face de la maison de Madimir, au second 
etage; on y coui't, tandis que quelques-uns retiennent Fedora qui voudrait aller L'ar- 
reter elle-meme et peut-eti-e se venger de ses propres mains. 

Anxieuse, regardant a la fenetre qui donne sur celles de Loris, elle attend ! . . 

Mais les bommes de police ne trouvent pas Loris cbez lui ; il vient de secbapper 
. . . . H avait done prevu son arrestation C'etait done bien lui l'assassin ! Et Fe- 
dora, desesperee, folle, ne se connaissant plus, va se jeter au cou de Vladiruir, 
sant avee fureur son cadavre et s'abimant dans son immense doulcur. 



FEDOEA. 11 

mind saying: "After all, it is hardly necessary, I will tell him myself what brought 
me." He then left. This unknown individual was certainty the thief of the letter 
that the old woman had brought. Who was this young man ? The servant, plyed 
with questions, remembers having seen him once before, but does not remember 
his name. 

Each one suggests every name he can think of and in his way all the names are 
passed in review of the men who are in the habit of calling at Vladimir's residence. 
The servant finally declares that the visitor in question is Loris Ipanoff. 

Loris Ipanoff! Can this be ? The gentleman in question is a nobleman extremely 
rich, of whom no one has ever breathed anything wrong. It is true that theft was not 
the motive of the assassination, but there might have been a thousand other motives. 
He does not know the Princess Fedora, Vladimir's fiancee; therefore jealousy is not 
the cause, but the deduction is irresistable : he stole the letter, he must have shot the 
unfortunate captain. 

Loris Ipanoff was not an intimate friend of Vladimir's ; they did not live in the 
same world, nor did they frequent the same society. Vladimir was a man about town, 
a high liver and rather astentatious in his habits, whilst Loris Ipanoff was known as a 
young man of serious disposition and as a hard worker in literary pursuits. But what 
does this matter? It is even a further proof. Loris Ipanoff is a nihilist; he has served 
as a tool in the hands of those conspirators who are ceaselessly trying to exite revolt 
in Eussia. He is very rich, but the nihilists count in their ranks both great names and 
greath fortunes. According to the notable sentence cited in the first scene between 
Desire and Eschileff : " There are nihilists even at the table of the Czar ! " 

It was remembered by several present that a week before Vladimir, whose father 
had just been appointed Prefect of Police, had received a letter referring to the strict 
measures adopted by the police. This letter, as Desire testified, ran as follows: "If 
your father continues persecution of this description he will prepare for you a violent 
death ! " Not an atom of doubt ! The crime is the work of nihilists: Loris Ipanoff is 
a nihilist. He is without doubt the assassin. 

Fedora whom the death of her ]over has not only not discouraged, but in whom 
despair has lighted a passionate desire for revenge, first thrills with hatred, then starts 
with joy to think that at least this great crime will not go unpunished. 

Her feverish indignation is communicated to all present, and each one is more 
eager than his neighbor to be the first to cause the arrest of the criminal. 

Loris Ipanoff lives exactly opposite Vladimir's residence and occupies the whole 
second floor of the house. All make a dash acrose the street, except a few who 
restrain Fedora, who asks nothing better than to make the arrest herself and perhaps 
avenge her lover wirth her own hands. 

Anxious, breathless, she gazes out of the window, which faces Loris' apartments 
and awaits the result 

The police find that Loris is not at home ; he has fled ! . . . . He f orsaw then his 
arrest. It is he ! He is the assassin ! 

And Fedora, mad with despair, no larger able to restain herself, throws herself on 
Vladimir's body, kisses his cold face and faints. 

Curtain. 



FEDOBA. 



Acte Deuxieme. 

L'action se passe maintenant a Paris, fort peu de temps apres ces terribles evene- 
ments qui ont fait tant de sensation a Saint-Petersbourg. La Eussie est toujours 
dans la meme situation ; en proie aux machinations des nihilistes et surtout a la ter- 
reur qu'elles lui inspirent, le gouvernement du Czar se voit force, pour essayer d'assu- 
rer la securite de son Empire trop vaste, d'envoyer et d'entretenir partout des espiocs 
qui le renseignent et qui, au besoin, se font les instruments des vengeances privees, 
sans reculer devant des actes que ne perrnet la justice d'aucun pays. Pour les delits 
et meme les crimes politiques, toutes les nations accordent le droit d'asile aux etran- 
gers ; aussi, les sicaires de la police russe sont-ils forces quelquefois, en France, en 
Suisse, en Allemagne, de recourir au rapt, a l'enlevement, meme a. l'assassinat des 
nihilistes, contre lesquels aucun pays civilise n'accorderait l'extradition. 

Cette courte explication est necessaire avant d'aller plus loin dans l'expose de 
cette piece, qui est le chef d'ceuvre de Sardou dans le genre du draiae moderne. 

Cest, en effet, chez une nihiliste que nous nous trouvons, a, cette lieure, a, Paris. 
Une nihiliste ardente et convaincue, cette Comtesse Olga Soukaroff qui a Dae immense 
fortune, qui possede un hotel luxueux a Paris, et qui y recoit tous les Eusses rebelles 
ou niecontents, tous les condamnes, les echappes des mines et des bagnes de Siberie, 
en un mot tous les hommes politiques vaincus qui revent l'affranchissement de leurs 
concitoyens et la liberie de leur patrie. 

Au lever du rideau, nous nous trouvons done chez la Comtesse Olga Soukaroff, et 
nous y retrouvons Eouvel et l'ancien attache de l'ambassade de France a Saint-Peters- 
bourg, M. de Siriex. 

Siriex raconte qu'il a quitte son poste pour rentrer a Paris comme Secretaire du 
Ministre des Affaires etrangeres. Depuis trois mois qu'il a quitte la Eussie, il est 
sans nouvelles ni renseignements, et il en demande. Eouvel lui rejuond, et la conver- 
sation tombe sur la Comtesse Olga Soukaroff, sur ce qu'elle fait et sur le monde 
qu'elle regoit. 

La comtesse passe pour etre une blasee, qui recherche dans l'excentricite et la 
politique des plaisirs et des sensations qu'elle ne trouvait pas ailleurs. En ce 
moment, elle est notamment occupee de lancer et de presenter aux Parisiens un 
jeune pianiste de genie, un nihiliste. Elle se prend au serieux comme femme poli- 
tique, mais ce ne peut etre bien reel, d'apres ce quo dit Eouvel. Cest une femme 
charm ante, un peu toquce, et voila tout. Pour le moment, sa maison est fcres agre- 
able, elle reroit brillamment tous les mercredis, et sa passion actuelle est le pianiste 
en question, le malheureux proscrit Boleslas Lasinski, nihiliste et polonais. 

Quand la Comtesse Olga entre en scene, elle se lvjouit de revoir sa vieille et 
bonne connaissancc M. de Siriex, et la conversation devient tout d'abord jilus intC- 
ressante, puisque Ton va y apijrendi-e des nouvelles de Fedora, aussitot apres 
qu'Olga aura fait la presentation et le inaguinque panegyrique de son pianiste adore. 

Loris Ipanoff, qui so trouve a Paris et qui est le cousin de la Comtesse Olga, 
ne manque aucune des receptions de son aimable cousine. II s'y trouve done, ce 
soir-lii. A son nom, M. de Siriex s'etonne et demande si e'est bien le Loris Ipanoff 
qui a ete accuse du meurtre commis a Saint-Petersbourg sur le fiance do Fedora. 



13 



Act Second. 



The scene is now changed to Paris, a short time after the terrible events which 
have made such a sensation at St. Petersburg. Russia is still a prey to the machina- 
tions of the nihilists, and especially to the terror which they inspire. The Czar's 
government, trying to insure the security of this most unwieldy empire sees itself forced 
to send out and support everywhere, spies, who keep it posted and who, in case of 
need, become the instruments of private revenge, and who do not hesitate to commit 
acts contrary to the law of any country. For political misdemeanors and even crimes/ 
all nations accord a right of asylum to foreigners; therefore the Eussian agents are 
sometimes forced in France, Switzerland and Germany to have recourse to abduction, 
to secret seizure and even to the assassination of nihilists, as no civilized country 
would accede to a demand for their extradition. 

This short explanation is necessary before going further into the plot of this play 
which is Sardou's master-piece in the style of the modern drama. 

It is in fact at the house of a nihilist in Paris that the scene is now laid. The 
Countess Olga Soukaroff is an ardent and sincere nihilist who has an immense fortune, 
possesses a luxuriant residence in Paris, and who receives therein all the Russian 
rebels and malcontents, all convicts escaped from the mines and prisons of Siberia — 
in a word, all the political schemers who dream of enfranchisement of their fellow- 
citizens and the liberty of their country. 

The rising of the curtain discloses the L Countess Olga's apartments, M. Rouvel 
and the former attache of the French Legation at St. Petersburg, M. de Siriex. Siriex: 
tells how he has left his former post to return to Paris as secretary to the Minister of 
Foreign Affairs. 

During the three months that have passed since he left Russia he is without news 
or information of any sort and he questions Rorwel closely. The conversation turns 
on the Countess Olga Soukaroff, on what she is doing and the people she receives. The 
Countess passes for a woman of the world worn out with its pleasures, who seeks in 
eccentricities of all sorts and in politics the pleasures and sensations that she would 
not find otherwise. At the present moment she is notably occupied in introducing 
to the Parisians a young pianist of genius, a nihilist and a Pole. She really believes 
herself to be a factor in politics but she is not very redoubtable Rouvel tells him. 
She is a charming woman, a little odd and -that is all. For the rest, the house is a 
very agreeable one, she receives brilliantly every Wednesday and her passion is for 
the present the poor, proscribed pianist. 

Boleslas Lasinski, nihilist and a Pole. 

The Countess enters and is happy to see again her old and goodfriendM.de 
Siriex, and after having introduced and eulogized her favorite pianist, the conversation 
turns on Fedora. 

Loris Ipanoff, who is in Paris and who is cousin of the Countess Olga, never misses . 
a single reception of his charming cousin. He therefore is here this evening. 

At the mention of his name, M. de Siriex in astonishment asks if it is possible 
that it is the same Loris Ipanoff who has been accused of the murder of Fedora's fiancee 
at St. Petersburg. 



U FEDORA. 

Mais personno do sait ce que veut dire Siriex, et c'esfc avec un ensemble cornplet 
qu'Olga, Eouvel et autres lui disent que Loris Ipanofi est le plus charrnant homme 
qu'il y ait au monde. 

La Comtesse Olga raconte alors une charmante excursion qu'elle a faite, la veille, 
sur la Seine, de Paris a Maisons-Laffitte, sur le yacht de la Princesse Fedora. 

On dit a Siriex que, en effet, la Princesse Fedora est a Paris, qu'elle a quitte 
Saint Petersbourg depuis deux mois, et Loris confirm e cette nouvelle. fciiriex tombe 
d'etonnements en etonnements en voyant que Loris parle de Fedora aussi tranquille- 
ment que si rien ne s'etait passe, et en apprenant que Fedora se trouve en France par 
ordre du gouvernenient russe avec lequel elle est au plus inal. 

La stupefaction de Siriex redouble en apprenant que Loris faisait partie de l'ex- 
cursion de la veille, sur le yacht de Fedora, et que cette derniere n'a jamais parle a 
son amie Olga du malheur qui lui etait si recemment arrive en Eussie, la mort de son 
'fiance. II est vrai que rien n'est etonnant dans la conduite mysterieuse d'une femme 
comme Fedora, car elle descend en droite ligue des Cantacuzene, ces terribles empe- 
reurs d'orient qui regnerent si longtemps a Constantinople. Elle porte nienie a, son 
doigt leur anneau imperial, et elle a parfois la cruaute de ses ancetres ; la veille encore, 
pendant l'excursion sur la Seine a bord de son yacht, elle a fait jeter a l'eau un matelot 
qui lui avait desobei. 

Siriex, pour avoir le coeur net de tout ce mystere qui l'environne, critique un peu 
Fedora et sa conduite, met en doute la sincerite de ses actes et nie qu'elle soit une 
nihiliste crpulsee de Eussie. Loris defend chaudement Fedora et ne porait nullement 
emu quand Siriex, a bout d'arguments, met enfin la conversation sur l'assassinat de 
Vladimir Yariskine. 

Siriex s'avoue que toute sa diplomatie. est battue par l'habilete des gens qui 
l'entourent, et il se promet d'essayer enfin de savoir la verite aupres de la Princesse 
Fedora elle-merne, dont on annonce la prochaine arrivee a la soirte d'Olga. 

Apres quelques theories de cette derniere sur le charme qu'il y a a aimer un con- 
spirateur, un criminel politique, comme Test son pianiste Boleslas, en se disant 
toujours q'une tete si chere peut tomber le lendemain, la Princesse Fedora fait son 
entree dans les salons de la Comtesse. 

Des qu'elle peut se debarrasser les autres personnages, Fedora se trouve seule 
avec Siriex. 

Elle lui confesse qu'eUe poursuit toujours sa vengeance, qu'elle n'est a, Paris que 
dans ce but, qu'elle a des hommes de la police russe a ses ordres, et qu'elle est tou- 
jours convaincue que e'est Loris qui a tue Vladimir. II ne le lui a pas dit, cependant; 
mais tout le fait supposer. Quant a, elle, elle n'a rien dit : e'est en n'eveillant aucun 
soupcon sur ses intentions qu'elle pourra arriver a vengcr son fiance. Leurs projets 
de mariage n'etaient pas encore publics ; aussi, quand, apres son crime, Loris a roussi 
a quitter la Eussie sans dtlai en depistant toutes les poui'suites, il ne savait rien con- 
cernant Fedora et Vladimir ; rien done ne devait lui faire prendre garde a elle. Da 
ont ainsi pu faire connaissance, et leur intimite a promptement marche. 

C'est a ce point que Loris est devenu profondement amoureux de Fedora, qu'il 
croit proscritc ct persucutee comme lui-meme. II est tres riche, elle aussi ; par con- 
sequent il est sincere. Fedora n'attend plus qu'une occasion tres prochaiue pour pro- 
fited de cet amour et lui faire confesser son crime. S'il ne l'a pas commis, elle le 
quittcra et l'oublicra pour aller sur une autre piste, car elle no saurait jamais renoncer 
a venger Vladimir. S'il est coupable, elle lo livrera sans pitie. 

Mais le temps et le charme do Loris ont dt'ja commence leur ceuvre; Fedora se 
plait parfois a douter de la culjiabilite de ce jeune homme, quoiqu'elle soit pour elle 



FEDORA. 15 

But nobody knows what M. de Siriex refers to and it is the universal opinion, 
expressed by Olga, Rouvel and the others that Loris Ipanoff is the most charming 
man in the world. 

The Countess Olga then tell of a charming excursion she has made the day before 
on the Seine from Paris to Maisons Lafitte upon Fedora's yacht. In fact they tell 
Siriex that Fedora has left St. Petersburg two months before and Loris confirms this 
news. Siriex is more and more astonished hearing Loris speak of Fedora as quietly 
as if nothing had occurred, and on learning that Fedora is in Paris by the order of 
the Russian Gouvernment with which she is on bad terms. 

The stupe faction of Siriex is redoubled, however, when he learns that Loris has 
been one of the party of the day before on Fedora's yacht, and that the latter has 
never spoken to her friend Olga of the sorrow that has so lately befallen her in Russia, 
the death of her fiancee. 

It is true that there is nothing astonishing in the mysterious conduct of a woman 
like Fedora, for she is a direct descend ent of the Cautacuztmes, those terrible emperors 
of the Orient who reigned so long at Constantinople. She even wears on her finger 
their imperial ring and she has sometimes the barbarity of her ancestors. During the 
excursion on the Seine the day before, while on her yacht, she had had a sailor 
thrown overboard for having disobeyed her. 

Siriex, to get at the bottom of all this mystery, criticises Fedora and her conduct, 
throws doubt upon the sincerity of her acts and denies that she can be a nihilist 
expelled from Russia. Loris warmly defends Fedora and does not seem in the least 
moved, when for want of an argument Siriex finally turns the conversation upon the 
assassination of Vladimir Tariskine. 

Siriex acknowledges to himself that all his diplomacy is set at naught by the skill 
of those around him, and he promises himself to get the truth of the matter from the 
Princess Fedora herself whose arrival is momentarily expected. 

Several theories are put forward by the Countess Olga concerning the peculiar 
charm that lies in loving a conspirator, a political criminal like her dear pianist 
Boleslas, in being convinced of his hourly peril and in knowing that to-morrow may 
bring about his death. Thereupon Fedora enters. 

As soon as she can rid herself of the rest of the party, Fedora finds herself alone 
with Siriex. 

She confesses to him that she is still following out her vengeance, that she is in 
Paris only for this end, that she has Russian police agents at her command and that 
she is thoroughly convinced that it is Loris who killed Vladimir. He has not acknowl- 
edged it, however, but everything makes her suppose it. As for herself, she has said 
nothing. It is only by lulling to sleep every suspicion of her intentions that she can 
expect to succeed in avenging her fiancee. Their intended marriage had not been 
made public and when, after his crime, Loris had succeeded in immediately leaving 
Russia, foiling all pursuit, he knew nothing concerning Fedora and Vladimir, there 
was nothing therefore to put him on his guard against her. They had therefore been: 
able to make each others acquaintance, and intimacy had thriven apace. 

Loris now falls deeply in love with Fedora, whom he imagines exiled and perse- 
cuted like himself. He is very rich, as well as she, consequently he is sincere. 

Fedora only waits for an occasion, in order to take advantage of this love and 1 
make him confess his crime. If he has not committed it, she will leave him and forget 
him to follow up another clue, for she will never renounce the avenging of Vladimir. 
If he is guilty she will inexorably give him up to justice. 

But time and the charm of Loris have already begun their work ; Fedora from 



16 FEDORA. 

bien averee, et elle avoue sincerement a Siriex qu'elle prefererait trouver Loris 
innocent ! 

Apres cette scene, ecrite et pensee de main demaitre par le grand auteur francaip, 
comme elle est si incomparablement rendue par l'illustre actrice qui l'a creee, Loris 
rentre et se trouve enfin, dans les salons d'Olga, en tete-a-tete avec la Princesse Fe- 
dora. 

Cet entretien, une des plus emouvantes pages du theStre contemporain, arrive 
aux plus hauts degres qa'aient jamais pu atteindre l'emotion et 1'interet dramatique. 

Fedora dit a Loris qu'elle ne l'attendait par ce soir-la, et elle se laisse aller a lui 
parler d'amonr et a lui permettre de lui en parler aussi. Tantot sincere et passionriee 
dans ce qu'elle dit elle-rneme, tantot reagissant contre sa secrete sympathie et tendant 
des pieges a son amoureux, elle finit par croire a. son innocence et elle lui annonce 
qu'elle va repartir pour la Russie des le lendemain, car elle a recu du Czar sa grace 
pleine et entiere. 

— Venez avec moi? lui dit-elle; le Czar vous pardonnera aussi. — Vous n'avez pas 
du commettre de grands crimes ; j'intercederai pour vous. 

Mais Loris ne peut pas, ne veut pas. II sait qu'on ne lui accordera pas sa grace, 
car on l'accuse d'avoir assassine le fils du prefet de pobce, Vladimir Tariskine. Son 
pere est tres vindicatif et ne croira jamais a son innocence. 

— Mais vous la prouverez, nous la prouverons, s'ecrie Fedora. 

— Et si je ne puis pas la prouver? 

— Comment? 

— Fedora, m'aimez-vous ? 

— Eb bien oui, je vous aime ! 

— Vous m'aimez? . . . Vous? . . . Eh bien, alors, je puis tout vous dire . . . C'est 
moi qui ai tue Vladimir ! 

A cette epouvantable revelation, Fedora, sa ressouvenant de ses serments et de la 
mission qu'elle s'est imposee, ne pense plus soudain qu'a venger son fiance . . . Mais 
comment faire ? Livrer Loris aux agents du Czar; mais de quelle maniere? . . . Ce 
n'est que par l'amour qu'elle peut attirer le meurtrier dans un guet a pens . . . Aussi, 
ne veut-elle pas ici entendre la justification, les explications de Loris ; il les lui promet 
pour le lendemain, mais elle les veut plus tot ; il lui faut la vengeance immediate, le 
lendemain est trop eloigne pour elle. 

Elle l'attendra, cette nuit rneme, chez elle ; elle lui donne les moyens de 
penetrer dans samaison . . , Puisqu'elle l'aime, qu'a-t-il a, craindre? Qu'il ne s'arrete 
ni devant les dangers qu'il peut courir, ni devant le respect qu'il lui doit; elle l'aime ! 
Pourrait-il besiter ? 

Devant d'aussi brulantes paroles, Loris nbesite point, en effet. II ira, cette nuit 
ineme, chez Fedora . . . 

Et Fedora sera vengee ! . . . 

Rideau. 



FEDORA. 17 

time to time allows herself to doubt his culpability, notwithstanding that it is very 
plain to her, and sincerely admits to Siriex that she would prefer to find Loris inno- 
cent! 

After this masterly scene, written and thought out by the great French author, 
and as it has been incomparably given by the illustrious actress who created the title 
role, Loris comes back and finds himself tete-a-tete with the Princess Fedora. 

This interview is one of the most moving pages of the contemporaneous stage, 
and raises to the highest degree the dramatic interest and emotion of the spectator. 

Fedora tells Loris that she did not expect to see him this evening and allows him 
to speak to her of love and permits herself to speak of love to him. 

First, sincere and passionate in what she says herself, and again striving against 
her secret sympathy for him, she lays pitfall for her lover and finally ends by believing 
in his innocence, and tells him that she is about to leave for Russia to-morrow as she 
has received from the Czar a full and complete pardon. " Come with me ! " she says, 
"the Czar will pardon you also ; you certainly have committed no great crime. T will 
intercede for you." 

But Loris cannot go, nor does he wish to. He knows that he will not be par- 
doned, because they accuse him of having assassinated Vladimir, the son of the Pre- 
fect of Police. The latter is very vindictive and would never believe in his inno- 
cence. 

" But you will prove it, we will prove it together ! " cries Fedora. 

" And if I cannot prove it ? " 

"What!" 

" Fedora, do you love me ? " 

"Yes! I love you! " 

" You love me ? You ? . . . Well, then I can tell you everything ... It is I who 
killed Vladimir ! " 

At this frightful revelation, Fedora remembers her vows and the mission she has 
given herself to fulfill. She returns to her ideas of revenge. 

She will of course give up Loris to the agents of the Czar . . . But how ? ... It is 
only by love that she can draw the murderer into a trap. Neither does she wish to 
listen now to the explanations of Loris ; he promises them to her on the morrow. 
She must have them sooner, she must have immediate revenge. To-morrow is too 
far off. She will expect him this very night at her house ; she gives him a key . . . 
Since she loves him what has he to fear ? He must not be deterred by the danger he 
may run nor by the respect which he owes her. She loves him ! Why hesitate ? 

Before these burning words, Loris succumbs. He will go this very night. 

He will meet her. 

And Fedora will be avenged ! 

Curtain. 



FEDORA. 



Acte Troisieme. 



Apres la soiree chez la comtesse Olga, Taction se passe chez Fedora, au bord d« la 
Seine, dans son hotel sur le quai, en face duquel se trouve aniarre son yacht de plai- 
sance dont il a deja efe question dans Facte precedent. 

Fedora, fievreuse et triomphante a la fois, sent qu'elle tient enfln sa vengeance; 
elle ne la laissera pas echapper. Elle donne des ordres a, ses domestiques et fait venir 
en toute hate 1'ofScier de la police russe que Ton a mis a sa disposition, ce meme 
Gretch qui a mene, au premier acte, l'enquete Rur l'assassinat de Vladimir. 

En attendant Gretch, Fedora recoit M. de Siriex, qui lui avait promis de passer 
avant de rentrer chez lui, pour savoir des nouvelles sur ce qu'elle a pu apprendre de 
la culpabilite de Loris. 

Femora lui annonce qu'elle a tout appris, puisqae Loris lui a tout avoue. Elle 
n'en a pas encore les details, mais elle va les avoir. C'est evidemment comme 
nihiliste que Loris a tue le fils du Prefet de Police, car il a prononce devant elle le 
mot de chatiment. 

Depuis quelque temps, le gouvernement russe demande au gouvernement francai3 
1'extradition de Loris, mais sans pouvoir l'obtenir ; Fedora supplie M. de Siriex de 
s'employer a la faire accorder, et elle s'etonne des raisons que lui donne le Secretaire 
du Ministre pour lui faire comprendre qu'aucune nation civilisee ne s'abaisserait au 
point de livrer un condamne politique. 

Fedora agira done seule. 11 est fort tard, personne ne se promene a cette heure sur 
les quais ; ses hommes de police saisiront Loris, le baillonneront, le jetteront au fond 
du yacht qui est en face, sur la Seine, et Fedora le conduira elle-menie dans la mer 
de la Manche, cu elle le livrera, pieds et poings lies, a un vaisseau de guerre russe qui 
y est preciserrent en station. 

C'est ce qu'elle explique tout au long au policier Gretch, des que Siriex est sorti. 
Ou va laisser entrer Loris sans qu'il se doute de rien, mais on se jettera sur lui et on 
l'enlevera aussitot qu'il quittera la maison. 

Gretch, de son cote, donne a Fedora les nouvelles de ce que lui et ses espions ont 
decouvert dans la journee. Comme Loris s'est apercu qu'ou lui derobait ou qu'on 
decachetait avant lui toutes les lettres qui lui etaient adressees de Russie, c'est main- 
tenant par des personnes venant directement de Saint-Petersbourg qu'il les recoit. 
Le jour meme, il en a recu une de son frere Valerien Ipanoff, capitaine dans la garde 
du Czar. 

Plus de doutes, le frere est aussi un nihiliste. Fedora prend la plume et ecrit an 
Prefet de Police qu'ejle tient enfin Loris, qu'elle va le lui envoyer vivant, que son 
frere Valerien est son complice, et que, par consequent, Vladimir va etre venge par 
son pere et par sa fiancee. 

Fedora fait mettre cette lettre a la poste et, ordonnant a, ses gens d'aller dormir 
ct aux agents de police de suivre ses instructions formelles, elle reste seule pour 
attendre Loris. 

Elle va pouvoir savourer a son aise sa vengeance. 

Loris se presente ; comme toujours, il dit qu'il a ete suivi par dee espions ; Fe- 
dora le rassure ; en somme, pourquoi done s'est-il fait nihiliste? 



FEDORA. 



Act Third. 



After the Countess Olga's soiree the scene is changed to Fedora's residence on 
the bants of the Seine, opposite which rides at anchor the pretty little steam-yacht 
mentioned in the last act. 

Fedora, feverish but triumphant, feels that she at last is about to reap her 
revenge. She will not let it escape ! She gives orders to the servants and sends in 
haste for the Eussian detective that the home government has placed at her disposal. 
It is the same Gretch who in the first act held the judicial inquiry upon the assassina- 
tion of Vladimir. 

"While Fedora is waiting for the arrival of Gretch, M. de Siriex is announced and 
received by the mistress of the house. He had promised to call before going home 
and hear what she had discovered concerning the guilt of Loris. 

Fedora tells him that she knows all, since Loris has confessed his crime to her. 
She has not yet heard all the details, but she is about to hear them. It is evidently as 
a nihilist that Loris did the foul deed, becaiise he pronounced before her the word 
"retribution." 

The Russian government has for some time been demanding the extradition of 
Loris Ipanoff from France, but without avail. Fedora begs M. de Siriex to use his 
influence to obtain it, and can not understand the reasons the Secretary of the 
Embassy gives in order to make her see that no civilized nation would stoop so low 
as to give up a man condemned for political reasons. 

Fedora resolves in this case to act alone. It is very late and no one passes along 
the deserted streets. Her scheme is to have Loris seized by the detectives and his 
cries smothered with a cloak. He is then to be carried on board of her steam-yacht, 
which lies all prepared for the occasion; the yacht is then to steam immediately out to 
sea and shape its course for the English Channel, where a Russian man-of-war will be 
all ready to receive the prisoner. This is what she explains in detail to Gretch when 
M. de Siriex has taken his leave. Loris is to be allowed to enter the house, but is to 
be seized and pinioned the moment he leaves. 

Gretch on his side gives Fedora an account of his labors during the day, and 
tells her what his spies have discovered. 

As Loris has perceived that all the letters addressed to him from Russia are 
either stolen or read before their delivery, he now only receives direct communications 
from St. Petersburg through the hands of personal friends. This day he has received 
one from his brother, Valerian Ipanoff, captain of the Czar's body guard. 

This settles another important question. The brother is also a nihilist. Fedora 
takes her pen and writes to the Prefect of Police at St. Petersburg that she at last 
holds Loris, that she will send him back to Russia alive, that his brother Valerian is 
his accomplice, and consequently Vladimir will at last be avenged by the hands of his 
father and by his fiancee. 

Fedora sends this letter to be mailed, then orders the servants to bed and 
instructing the detectives to follow her commands to the letter, she is left alone and 
waits impatiently for Loris. She is at last able to count upon her revenge ! . . . 
Loris at last appears. As usual, he complains of having been followed by spies. 



20 FEDOKA. 

A ces mots, Loris s'etonne; il n'est pas nihiliste, il ne l'a jamais ete, il ne s'occupe 
pas de politique. 

— Mais, difc Fedora incredule, pourquoi avez-vous tue Vladimir Yariskine? 

— Ce n'est pas comme nihiliste, s'ecrie Loris ; c'est parce qu'il m'avait pris ma 
femme ! 

— Votre femme? 

— Oui, ma femme. 

Et le jeune homme raconte alors ce qui s'est pass& II vivait seul avec sa mere, 
a la campagne, dans un chateau ; sa vieille et sainte mere avait une jeune lectrice, 
belle et spirituelle. Dans cette fr^quentation de tous les instants, Loris etait devenu 
amoureux de la demoiselle et avait voulu l'epouser. 

Mais sa mere, qui avait du bon sens et jugeait autrement que lui les merites etles 
qualiles de la lectrice, avait refuse son consentement a une telle union et memo avait 
congedie la jeune personne. Loris, desespere et toujours plein d'amour, lui avait 
assigne un rendez-vous a, Saint-Petersbourg, ou ils s'etaient rejoints et maries, en 
cacbette, devant un pretre, en esperant toujours que tot ou tard la mere consentirait 
a ce mariage et que les deux epoux devant Dieu pourraient enfin se proclamer tela 
devant le monde. 

La jeune femme etait coquette et semblait preter un peu trop d'attention aux 
flatteries des hommes; une fois, Loris avait du se presenter cbez Vladimir, pour le 
piier de cesser ses assiduites et ses galanterie3 vis-a-vis de sa femme Vanda. 

Les choses en etaient-la, et Loris n'avait aucun soupcon sur la conduite de sa 
femme, quand un jour, parti pour aller au chateau de sa mere, il ne put prendre le 
train et rentra chez lui. II n'y trouva qu'une vieille domestique qui rapportait a sa 
maitresse une lettre de Vladimir lui assignant un rendez-vous pour cette nuit. Cette 
lettre etait une reponse a une autre de la femme de Loris qui prevenait Vladimir du 
depart de son mari. 

Loris court chez Vladimir, ne l'y trouve pas, mais apercoit dans un tiroir encore 
ouvert la lettre de sa femme: il s'en empare et court au rendez-vous des deux 
criminels. 

Le rendez-vous avait lieu dans une maison isolee, louee pour Vladimir sous un 
faux nom. Loris s'y introduit, surprend les deux amants; un duel immiidiat a lieu, 
Vladimir tire le premier et manque Loris, qui, tirant a son tour, blesse mortellement 
son adversaire. 

Pendant ce temps, la femme coupable s'est enfuie, sans prendre ses vetements de 
foumire, et s'est refugiee dans la maison d'une amie, ou elle a trouve la mort des 
suites du froid quelle a ressenti dans sa fuite precipitee. 

Loris, lui aussi, est alle chercher un asile chez un de ses amis, nomme Boroff, qui 
lui a faeilito les moyens de passer la frontiere. — Co Boroff, qui se trouvait hier encore 
a Paris chez la Comtesse Olga, vient justement de partir pour Pctersbourg pour dire 
toute la verite a 1'Empereur pour essayer d'obtenir la graco de Loris. Mais il ne l'ob- 
tiendra certainement pas, tant que le PrOfet de Police sera Yariskine, le ptre do 
Vladimir. 

Fedora s'etonne de ce que la femme de Loris n'ait pas parle avant de mourir. 
A quoi Loris explique quelle s'etait tue par crainte d'etre compromise et d'etre envoyee 
en Siberie. 

Maintenant, comment a-t^on etu tout de suite sur la vraic piste du meurtrier ? 
Qui a ete assez clairvoyant ct assez mcchant poui- deviner que e'etait Loris et pour 
mettro toute la police a ses trousses ? Lo jeune homnio l'ignore. 



FEDOKA. 21 

Fedorare assure3 him. "Why do you complain?" she says, "why, then, did you become 
a nihilist ?" These words evidently astonish Loris. He is not a nihilist, he says, ha3 
never been one and does not deal in politics. 

"But" Fedora exclaims incredulously, "why then did you shoot Vladimir 
Tariskine ? " 

" I did not kill him as a nihilist," interrupts Loris, " it was because he took my 
wife away from me!" 

"Your wife? " 

"Yes, my wife." 

The young man then tells how the affair occurred. He was living aloEe with nis 
mother at his country residence; his aged and beloved mother had a young companion 
handsome and spintuelle. By force of long association Loris fell in love with the lady 
and had asked her to marry him ; but his mother, who was a very sensible woman and 
who had taken a different view of the merits and qualities of her companion, had 
refused her consent to the union and had even dismissed the young woman. 

Loris, in despair and still deeply in love, had given her rendez-vous at St. Peters- 
burg, where they met and were married in secret, hoping that, sooner or later, the 
mother would give her consent, and that the two who were married before God would 
soon be able to proclaim themselves husband and wife before the world . 

The young wife was a decided coquette and seemed to lend a too willing ear to 
the flatteries of men. Once Loris had been farced to go to Vladimir and beg him to 
cease his attentions to his wife Vanda. 

Matters stood thus and Loris had no suspicion concerning his wife's conduct, when 
one day, having started to catch a train, in order to pay a visit to his mother in the 
country, he misses the train and comes back home. He finds no one but an old ser- 
vant, who is bringing back to her mistress a letter from Vladimir arranging a meeting 
for the same evening. This letter is an answer to one written bv Loris' wife informing 
Vladimir of the departure of her husband. Loris rushes to Vladimir's house, does 
not find him in, but perceives in the drawer of his study table his wife's letter. He 
seizes it, reads its contents and flies to the place of rendez-vous. 

This meeting had been appointed in an isolated house, rented by Vladimir under 
an assumed name. Loris forces his way in, surprises the delinquents, and the result is 
a duel upon the spot. 

Vladimir fires first and misses Loris, who, firing in his turn, mortally wounds his 
adversary. 

During this time the guilty wife escapes, without taking with her her heavy fur 
cloak. She seeks refuge in the house of a friend is taken ill with pneumonia caused 
by the exposure, and dies within a week. 

For his own part, Loris sought refuge with a friend named Boroff, who found 
means to get him out of the country — This Boroff, who was yesterday still in Paris 
at the Countess Olga's, has just left for St. Petersburg to lay the whole truth before 
the Emperor and to try to obtain Loris's pardon. This he will certainly not do, as 
long as Yariskine, the father of Vladimir, is Prefect of Police. 

Fedora is astonished that Loris's wife did not disclose the truth before dying, but 
Loris explains that she was silent from fear of being convicted as an accomplice in the 
crime and being sent to Siberia. 

As to who put justice on the track of the murderer and as to who was astute 
enough or malicious enough to guess the truth and betray him to the police, Lorio 
is entirely ignorant. 

Not knowing whether Loris is a most consulate villain or whether he is really 



22 FEDORA. 

Ne sachant vraiment si Loris est un profond miserable ou un martyr bieu a. 
plaindre, Fedora met en derate la veraeite du recit qu'elle vient d'entendre. 

Pour lui prouver que tout est vrai dans ce qu'il a dit, Loris lui montre la lettre 
de sa femme Vanda, qu'il a prise dans le tiroir de Vladimir ; cette preuve ne suffisant 
pas a Fedora, il lui donne a lire toutes les lettres que Vladimir avait adressees a sa 
femme et que Loris a trouvees chez elle la nuit meme du meurtre. 

Fedora les prend, eu reconnait l'ecriture et les lit ; au fur et a mesure qu'elle les 
parcourt, une revolution terrible se fait en elle. Elle voit dans ces lettres que Vladi- 
mir parle d'elle avec le plus grand dedain, qu'il jure a sa raaitresse qu'il ne se marie 
que force par son pere, qu'il n'aimera jamais que la femme de Loris et que, meme 
apres l'odieux marriage qu'on lui impose, sa seule femme continuera d'etre elle, et 
que Fedora ne sera jamais rien pour lui. , 

Devant ces revelations inattendues, ces preuves irrecusables, Fedora ne doute 
plus ; mais que faire ? 

Elle lui offre de partir elle-meme pour la Eussie et d'aller demander sa grace ; 
s'il ne consent pas, elle restera elle aussi, car elle l'aime maintenant et ne veut plus le 
quitter. 

Loris declare qu'il est trop tard, qu'il vient justement de recevoir une lettre de 
son frere Valerien, dans laquelle il lui annonce que ses biens sont confisques et qu'il 
est condamne a, mort. Devant la miserable existence qui lui est faite desormais, il ne 
se croit plus le droit d'importuner Fedora de sa presence et de son amour et, en 
meme temps que pour lui faire sa penible confession, e'est pour lui dire un adieu eter- 
nel qu'il est venu cette nuit chez elle. 

Mais Fedora se souvient tout-a-coup que Loris ne peut sortir de la maison sans 
etre aussitot enleve, assassine meme, par les homines qu'elle a places aux alentours 

pour cela. Si Loris sort, il est perdu, et elle ne peut plus le sauver Elle le supplie 

done de rester, d'attendre, de ne pas la quitter Mais il est tard, et Loris insiste 

pour sortir, ne Mt-ce que par le respect qu'il a pour la Princesse et qu'il ne veut pas 
laisser effleurer par la malveillance du monde. 

Devant ce danger imminent, ne ss souvenant plus que du martyr de cet inno- 
cent, de son amour pour elle et de la mort a. laquelle il court ; freniissant aussi d'in- 
dignation au souvenir de l'infamie du lache et traitre Vladimir, Fedora n'hesite plus 
.... Elle ne peut pas lui raconter qu'elle-meme a place des gens pour l'assassiner, 
mais elle le prie, le suppbe, au nom de son amour pour lui ! Elle se donne a lui, elle 
n'a que lui au monde, elle ne veut pas qu'il pai*te ; elle veut le garder. Que lui fait la 
malveillance publique ? Elle l'aime ! ... 

Et Loris, non moins amoureux, non moins passionne qu'elle, reste chez Fedora! 



FEDORA. 25 

the victim of circumstances that he claims himself to be, Fedora allows herself to doubt 
the veracity of the story she has just heard. 

In order to prove the entire truth of what he has said, Loris shows her the letter 
of his wife Vanda, which he had found in Vladimir's study; this proof not being 
j sufficient to convince Fedora he gives her to read all Vladimir's letters to Vanda, 
J which Loris had found in his wife's room the night of the murder. 

Fedora takes them, recognizes the handwriting and reads them. As she reads a 
terrible change comes over her. She sees by these letters that Vladimir had spoken 
of her in terms of the greatest scorn, that he had sworn to his mistress that he was 
being forced into marriage with Fedora by his father, that he would never love any 
woman but Vanda and that even after the odious marriage that was forced upon him 
she would still continue to be his only true wife, and that Fedora would never be 
anything to him in comparison with herself. 

These unexpected revelations, these unimpeachable proofs at last convince Fe- 
dora. She no longer doubts ! But what is to be done ? She offers to go, herself, to 
Russia and ask for his pardon; if he refuses she will stay and share his exile, for she 
now loves him and no longer wishes to leave him. 

Loris declares that it is too -late. He has just received a letter from his brother 
Valerian, in which the latter announces that all his lands and belongings have been 
confiscated and that he has been condemned to death ! Seeing the miserable exist- 
ence which lies before him, he no longer feels that he has the right to annoy Fedora 
with his presence or his love, and tells her that he has come to her, not only in order 
to lay before her his painful confession, but also to bid her an eternal farewell. 

He is about to take his departure, when Fedora suddenly remembers that Loris 
cannot leave the house without falling into the hands of the very men she has had 

stationed without. He may even be murdered in the struggle ! If- Loris 

crosses the threshold of the house he is lost, and she cannot save him ! ■ 

She begs him to stay, to wait, not to leave her but it is late, and Loris 

insists upon going, were it only out of respect for the Princess whom he does not wish 
touched by the slightest breath of scandal. 

Before this imminent danger, only remembering the martyrdom of this innocent 
man, his love for her and the certain death toward which he is unconsciously going, 
and shuddering, too, with indignation at the remembrance of the false, despicable 

Vladimir, Fedora no longer hesitates. She can not tell him that she has 

stationed men without to kidnap and perhaps murder him, but she begs, she implores 

him in the name of her love for him, to stay 1 She is his, she has but him m 

the world, he shall not go, he must stay with her! What does she care for 

scandal ? She loves him ! 

And Loris, who is no less in love than she, is won over by her entreaties and 
stays! 

Cuetain. 



ACTE QUATRIEME. 

Nous avons laisse Fedora et Loris dans les bras l'un de l'autre, oubliant les 
dangers du moment et ne pensant plus aux eventualites redoutables de l'avenir. 

Quand le jour est venu, Fedora, congediant les homines de police, a bien fait 
monter Loris sur son yacht, mais ce n'etait plus pour le livrer a la justice russe; ils 
sont alles ensemble dans l'ile anglaise de Jersey, sur les cotes de France. La, ils out 
vecu pendant quinze jours, en pleine lune de miel, loin du monde et des temoins 
importuns. 

Cei^endant, a Paris, leurs amis et connaissances savent ce qui ev est et s'entre- 
tiennent fort de cette escapade amoureuse. 

C'est ce que se racontent Siriex et la Comtesse Olga, qui se trouvent en presence 
dans le salon do Fedora, a Paris, ou la pirincesss et Loris viennent de rentrer apres 
leurs deux semaines d'amour sans melange. 

La Comtesse Olga envie leur sort et leur amour. Elle fait, en effet, a, Siriex le 
ricit de ses malheurs personnels. Depuis quinze jours, bien des choses ont traverse 
son existence; elle ne veut plus se fier a, personne desorcnais, et elle va se retirer loin 
du monde et de ses perfidies. Elle est desolee et decouragee pour toujours. Cet 
hommc quelle amait tant, qu'elle tachait de lancer et de rendre celebre, ce pretendu 
exile, ce pianiste incomparable, Boleslas Lasinski en un mot, n'etait qu'un vil 
miserable. Elle le croyait jaloux par amour parce qu'il l'empechait de sortir, la 

suivait partout et epiait la moindre de ses demarches Helas! non! c'etait tout 

simplement un espion du gouvemement russe que Ton avait attache a ses pas. 
Depuis qu'elle le sait, elle est desesperee, furieuse, et ne pense plus qu'a disparaitre de 
la societe parisienne. Son pianiste l'a rendue a jamais ridicule. 

Fedora, elle, pense tout autrement a propos de l'amour. Elle est heureuse au 
possible, et elle le raconte a, Siriex. Celui-ci s'emerveille beaucoup de voir ces redou- 
tables femmes du Nord, s'acharnant a la vengeance, voulant livrer un homme a la tor- 
ture et a l'echafaud et finissant par tomber dans ses bras en lui criant : Je t'aime ! 

Toutefois, Siriex est venu voir Fedora pour un motif serieux ; il lui apporte les 
nouvelles des evenements qui se sont passes depuis quinze jours. H les tient de bonne 
source, etant secretaire du Ministre a, qui Ton adresse toutes les communications des 
pays etrangers. 

La premiere nouvelle qu'apporte Siriex est la disgrace du prefet de police 
Yariskine ; destitue, et probablement arrete en ce moment a cause de sa mauvaise 
conduite et de ses nombreux abus de pouvoir, ce farouche tyran n'est plus a craindre 
aujomd'kui pour Loris. 

Les autres nouvelles sont, au contraire, mauvaises et sinistres. Sur line denun- 
ciation, arrivee de Paris au gouvemement russe, on a arrete le frere de Loris, Valerien 
Ipanoff, capitaine dans la garde imperiale. Yariskinc, encore alors prefet de police, 
la fait arreter comme nihiliste et l'a fait jeter dans un cachot profond au dessous du 
niveau de la Neva ; le fleuve a deborde le jour meme, et Valerien est mort novo dans 
son cachot. Le lendemain, il etait demontre que ce jeunc officier n'etait pas un nihiliste: 
l'indignation publique a ete portee a son comble contre Yariskine, et cela a etc une 
des causes de sa disgrace. 



FEDORA. 25 



Act Fourth. 



The last act left Fedora and Loris in each others' arms forgetful of the dangers of 
the present and the perils of the future. 

When day breaks Fedora goes out, sends away the detectives and then hurries 
Loris on board of her yacht, but it is no longer in order to siirrender him to the 
Russian government. They go together to the Isle of Jersey off the coast of France. 
There they live for several weeks in full honeymoon, far from the world and unwelcome 
witnesses. 

Nevertheless, at Paris, their friends and acquaintaneesfind out the secret and 
comment is rife about the escapade of the two lovers. 

This what Siriex and the Countess Olga are speaking about, when they meet in 
Fedora's, who, with Loris, has just returned from their stolen visit to the Isle of Jersey. 

The Countess Olga envies their experience and their love; in fact she is just now 
giving Siriex the full recital of her personal grievances. Since two weeks ago many 
things have changed in her life ; she will henceforth believe in no living soul, she is 
going to go far from the world and its deceits; she is in despair and discouraged for 
life ... This man whom she had so loved, whom she had introduced into society and 
tried to render famous, this pretended exile, this incomparable pianist, Boleslas 
Lasinski, in fact was nothing but a vile miscreant. She believed him in love and 
jealous because he did not want her to go out without following her and spying out 
her slightest actions ! . . . . Alas ! no ! He was nothing but a Russian spy ! Since she 
has found this out she is heart-broken, furious, and only thinks of disappearing from 
Parisian society where she is sure every one is laughing at her. 

Fedora, for her part, takes love from an entirely different point of view. She is 
happy, wondrously happy, and tells Siriex so. The letter is puzzled to account for the 
hidden motives of action in these women from Northern climes, who throw themselves 
with all their soul into a scheme of revenge, dooming their victim to the scaffold and 
end by rushing into his arms crying : " I love you ! " 

Notwithstanding this, Siriex has come to see Fedora for serious reasons, in fact 
he brings most important news from Russia. He has them from the most reliable of- 
sources, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

The first piece of news which Siriex brings is the disgrace of the Prefect of Police, 
Tariskine, degraded and probably arrested by this time for his numerous abuses of 
power. This tyrant, then, is no longer to be feared for Loris. 

The rest of the news is bad and disheartening. Upon a denunciation from Paris 
to the Russian gouvernment, Valerian Tpanoff, Loris' brother, captain of the Czar's 
body-guard, has been arrested. Yariskine, still prefect at this time, has had him thrown 
into a dungeon below the level of the river Niva, which overflowed during the night, 
and Valerian was drowned in his cell. The very next day it was fully proven that the 
young man was innocent and public indignation had been so great over this blunder 
that it proved one of the potent factors which led to Yariskine 's downfall. 

Unhappily this disaster is not the only one. The mother of the two Ipanoffs, 
already broken down by the sentence of death passed on Loris, on hearing of 
Valerian's frightful end, falls dead. These two sinister events are directly traceable 



26 . FEDORA. 

Malheureusement, ce malheur n'a pas ete le seul. La mere des deux Ipanoff, 
deja atteree par la coiidamnation a, mort de Loris, est tombee raide morte en appre- 
nant l'epouvantable et injuste fin de Valerien. Ces deux nialheurs sont dus au denon- 
ciateur inconnu qui semble s'etre si particulierement acharne contre lafainille Ipanoif. 

Fedora, epouvantee de son oeuvre, perd la tete et s'injurie . . Semblant s'adresser 
a une autre personne, elle insulte le miserable denonciateur, le tigre feroce qui a cause 
de tels malheurs . . . Et Loris, qui l'entend et qui voit, en entrant dans le salon, la 
douleur et la colere de sa bien-aimee Fedora, la remercie avec une vive et reconnais- 
sante emotion. 

Fedora recule d'abord devant ces remerciements, qu'elle est si loin de meriter, et 
elle s 'eerie qu'elle est une miserable ! . . . . 

— Pourquoi etes-vous une miserable ? demands Loris etonne. 

— Parce que, j'ai pu vous croire coupable et criminel, repond la princesse. 

— Eh ! qu'importe ! dit Loris. "Vous l'avez cru, comme beaucoup d'autres l'ont 
cru. Vous ne le croyez plus aujourd'hui, c'est l'essentiel. Vous m'aimez, n'est-ce pas 
mon bonheur, mon absolution, ma consolation ? 

Depuis qu'ils sont partis de Paris, il est arrive plusieurs lettres de Ilussie pour 
Loris ; elles ont ete adressees cbez Fedora afin que les espions russes ne les saisissent 
pas chez lui. II les prend et les ouvre. II commence par un telegramme, qui est de 
son ami Boroff ; Loris y lit ces mots : "J'ai obtenu ta grace." 

Sa joie eclate en voyant son honneur repare, ainsi que sa fortune ; il pourra 
rentrer dans son pays et y epouser Fedora ... 

Puis, il lit les lettres, tandis que Fedora reste muette et glacee de terreur en com- 
prenant que bientot tout son bonheur va s'evanouir sans espoir de i - etour. 

Dans les lettres que lit Loris, se trouve le lamentable recit de l'epouvantable mort 
de son frere Valerien et de la triste fin de leur mere bien aimee. Mais Loris y lit 
aussi qu'on lui revelera le nom de 1'inJatne accusateur, du denonciateur qui a ainsi 
menti et cause tant de ruaux irreparables. 

Ah ! comme il tarde a Loris de connaitre ce nom et de punir ce lache et ignoble 
faussaire! 

Fedora tremble de tous ses membres; non certes qu'elle craigne lamort,mais elle 
sent bien qu'elle va perdre l'amour de Loris .... 

Aussi, supplie-t-elle son amant de rester calme, genereux ; de ne plus chercher 
de vengeance Ne lui reste-t-il pas l'avenir, la fortune et l'amour ? 

Loris la rassure ; il l'aimera toujours, mais il lui est bien permis de rechercher et 
de punir l'ennemi inconnu qui lui a enleve son honneur et sa famille. Ce moment 
ne tardera pas puisque, des que son ami Boroff sera arrive a Paris, il saura 
le nom de l'infame delateur. Apres sa vengeance, il sera tout a Fedora, ear il l'aime, 
il l'adore ! . . . 

On annonce Boroff. Fedora ne veut pas que Loris le recoive ; elle vcut, aupara- 
vant, lui dire tout. Elle connait l'infame denonciateur ; c'est une femme. Faut-il, 
doit-on se venger d'une femme ? 

— Vous la connaissez done ? crie Loris. 

— Oui, pardonnez-la, oubliez-la, ayez pitie d'elle ! 

Ces mots n'arretent jias Loris, qui donue l'ordre d'introduire Boroff. En enten- 
dant cet ordre, Fedora n'y fcient plus ; elle avale un poison mortel qu'elle tenait ren- 
ferme dans un bijou byzantin, provenant de ses anceti-es les Empereurs do Const:inti- 
noplc, et qu'elle portait constamment suspendu a sou cou ; elle B'affaisse, elle palit ei 
demunde tehement griice pour la coujiablo que Loris, frappe d'une idee subite, com- 



V 7 



FEDOKA. 27 

to the unknown denunciation, who seems to be so obstinateiy bent upoD the destruc- 
tion of the Ipanoff family. 

Fedora is thunderstruck at the result of her work of revenge. She loses her head 
and upbraids herself bitterly, speaking as if she were another person, she insults the 

miserable person, the blood-thirsty wretch who has caused all this misfortune 

And Loris who, as he enters the room, overhears and sees all this — the grief and 
despair of his beloved Fedora — thanks her with fervent gratitude and adoration in 
his eyes. 

Fedora at first shrinks from his thanks, which she is so far from deserving, and 
cries out in her anguish that she is a wretch ! . . . . 

" Why a wretch, dear ? " asks Loris astonished. 

"Because I could have believed you guilty and a criminal," answers Fedora. 

"Well, what of that ! " says Loris; "you merely believed whet a great many other 
people believed. Tou no longer believe it, that is the principal thing. You love me ! 
Is not that my happiness, my absolution, my consolation ? " 

Since their departure from Paris, several letters from Russia have arrived for 
Loris. They have been addressed in care of Fedora so that the Russian spies could 
not have them seized and opened. He takes them and opens them one by one. He 
commences, however, with a telegram which is from his friend Boroff. Loris reads 

these words : " I have obtained your pardon " ! His joy is unbounded at thus 

seeing his honor and his fortune both saved. He can now go back to Russia and wed 

Fedora He continues reading his letters whilst Fedora stands dumb and 

frozen with terror, as the thought dawns in her mind that all her present happiness is 
sure to depart and soon, never to return. 

In his letters Loris finds the sad story of his brother's awful death and the terrible 
end of his beloved mother. But Loris also reads that the name of his infamous 
accuser is known and will be revealed to him ; this wretch who has so lied and 
intrigued as to cause this horrible succession of calamities. 

Ah! How Loris longs to know this name and at last punish the cowardly 
calumniator ! 

Fedora trembles from head to foot, not that she fears death, but that she sees 
that she is about to lose Loris' love. 

She only begs her lover to be calm, to be generous, not to seek revenge.— — Has 
he not her love, his fortune and a great future before him ? 

Loris reassures her. He will always love her, but he must be allowed to hunt 
down this man and punish, as it deserves, the crime of the destruction of an innocent 
family. The moment for justice to be meted out will not be long delayed for, as soon 
as his friend Boroff arrives in Paris, he will know the name of his infamous traducer. 
The • vengeance once accomplished, he swears to devote himself to her, for he loves 
her, he worships her ! . . . . 

Boroff is announced. Fedora does not want Loris to receive him. She wants 
first to tell him something. The infamous traducer whom he seeks is a woman! 
Will he, ought he to avenge himself on a woman ? 

" You know her, then ?" he cries 

"Yes !" she answers. "Ah ! Forgive her! forget her! have pity on her!" 

The words, however, do not stop Loris, who orders Boroff to be shown in. 
Fedora, as she hears this order, can bear it no longer; she swallows a deadly poison 
which she has always carried in the seal of the Byzantine ring which she inherited 
from her ancestors, the Emperors of Constantinople, and which she carries as a locket. 
She staggers slightly, grows pale and begs so piteously for the culprit, that Lorisj 



) 



28 FEDORA. 

prend que c'est elle qui l'a denonce et qui a cause la mort de ses parents. H l'accable 
d'injures et de maledictions .... 

Mais, la voyant ainsi deseperee, Loris sent bientot son amour reprendre le des- 
sus ; il veut lui pardonner, il essaie de la rappeler a la vie, il crie au secours! . . C'est 

en vain ! Le poison est inexorable Fedora meurt sous les baisers de son amant. 

impuissant a la, sauver ! 



FIN. 



FEDORA. 29 

struck by a sudden thought, understands at last that it is she who denounced him 
and has caused the death of his mother and his brother Valerian. He showers upon 

her his deepest curses and maledictions. But, at last, seeing her so utterly 

overcome with despair, Loris feels his love for her resume its sway. He pardons 

her and tries to bring her back to life — he calls for help ! — It is too late ! 

The poison is fatal ! Fedora dies in the arms of her lover, who is powerless to 

save her! 



EMD. 



From Nme. A0EL1NA PATTI, 



Chicago, III., Jan. 4th, 1882. 

To Messrs. STEIN W A Y & SONS, New York 

Dear Sirs: — Allow me to express to you the 
great satisfaction and pleasure that I have experi- 
enced from the use of your famous Pianos, which 
you have placed at my disposal during the Concert 
tour now in course of progress in the United 
States. 

During my artistic career in the art centres of 
the world, I have used the pianos of nearly all cele- 
brated manufacturers, but none of them can be 
compared to yours — none possess to such a mar- 
velous degree that sympathetic, poetic, and singing 
tone quality which distinguishes the Steinway as 
peerless among them all. Before returning to 
Europe, I shall select and purchase one of your 
Grand pianos for Craig-y-nos Castle, my residence, 
in South. Wales. 

Respectfully yours, 

ADELINA PATTI. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRE : 



009 541 338 9 



FRANZ LISZT. 

Messrs. STEINWAY & SONS: 

Gents : The magnificent Steinway Grand Piano now stands in my music room. 
and presents a harmonic totality of admirable qualities, a detailed enumeration of w hich is 
the more superfluous as this instrument fully justifies the world-wide reputation that for 
years you have everywhere enjoyed. 

After so much well-deserved praise, permit me also to add my homage, and the ex- 
pression of my undisguised admiration, with' which I remain, 

Very sincerely yours, 

FRANZ LISZT. 



ANTON RUBINSTEIN. 

New York, May 24, 1873. 
Messrs. STEINWAY & SONS: 

Gentlemen : On the eve of returning to Europe, I deem it my pleasant duty to 

express to you my most heartfelt thanks for all the kindness and courtesy you have shown 

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also in private, with the most eminent satisfaction and effect. 

Yours very truly, 

ANTON RUBINSTEIN. 



THEODORE TBZOMAS. 

Cincinnati, July 19th, 1S79- 
Messrs. STEINWAY & SONS: 

Gentlemen : I consider the Steinway Piano the best Piano at present made, and 
that is the reason why I use it in private and also in all my public concerts. 

As long as the Pianos of Messrs. Steinway & Sons retain that high degree of excel- 
lence of manufacture, and those admirable qualities which have always distinguished 
them, I shall continue to use them in preference to all other Pianos. 

Respectfully Yours, 

THEODORE THOMAS. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

111 

009 541 338 2 



